imCAD installation guide

Before you start

No administrator rights needed: imCAD installs only for the Windows user account you are signed in with.

1Create an account and download the installer

1. No account yet: go to imcadagent.com › Free trial and enter your name, email and password. Open the email Verify your imCAD email (check your Spam folder too) and click Verify email. Your account gets a full-featured 7-day trial right away.
2. Already have an account: sign in on the website.
3. On the Account page, in the imCAD installer section, click Download installer. Your browser saves imCAD-Setup-0.1.x.exe (about 62 MB) to your Downloads folder.
4. If the browser says the file "isn't commonly downloaded" or blocks it:
   • Microsoft Edge: hover over the file in the downloads list, click …, then Keep. If asked again, click Show more, then Keep anyway.
   • Google Chrome: in the downloads list, click Keep, or click the warning and choose Download suspicious file.

If imCAD gave you the installer on a USB drive or a local network folder, skip the download. You usually won't see the warning in Step 2 either.

2Run the installer and get past SmartScreen

1. Double-click imCAD-Setup-0.1.x.exe.
2. Windows shows a blue box: "Windows protected your PC". At this point only a Don't run button is visible. That is normal.
3. Click the More info link right below the message.
4. Check that the App line shows the imCAD installer file name. Publisher: Unknown publisher is expected for this version.
5. Click Run anyway.

Illustration: click the two highlighted items in order, More info and then Run anyway.

This warning appears because the installer is not code-signed yet, not because a virus was found. A signed version will be released later.

No Run anyway button, or Windows says it blocked the app completely: see Troubleshooting (Smart App Control).

3Install

1. Select Setup Language: choose English and click OK.
2. If you see "SOLIDWORKS was not found on this computer": click No, install SOLIDWORKS first, then run the installer again. Only click Yes if imCAD support tells you to.
3. Select Additional Tasks (AI brain and icon): this page only lists what is not on your computer yet.
   • Using a Claude account → leave Install Claude Code checked.
   • Using a ChatGPT account → also check Install Codex CLI.
   • Have both accounts? Check both.
   • Leave Create an imCAD desktop icon checked to open the app quickly.
4. Click Next, then Install.
5. Wait for the installation to finish. Downloading Claude Code / Codex from Anthropic / OpenAI takes a few minutes and the progress bar may stand still for a while. Don't close the installer during this time.
6. Last page: leave Open imCAD checked and click Finish. If you also see Sign in to your Claude account / Sign in to your ChatGPT account, you can uncheck them: you will sign in inside the app in Step 5.

If the connection drops while Claude Code / Codex is downloading, imCAD still installs. You can install the AI part later in the app: Settings › AI brain › Install (see Step 5).

4Sign in to your imCAD account

The imCAD app opens as a narrow window on the right edge of the screen, so you can watch SOLIDWORKS while you chat. Next time, open it from the imCAD desktop icon or Start › imCAD › imCAD.

1. Enter the Email and Mật khẩu (Password) of your imCAD account (the same account you use on the website) and click Đăng nhập (Sign in). The app starts in Vietnamese; you can switch it to English right after signing in (next paragraph).
2. Accounts issued by imCAD come with a temporary password: the app asks you to set a new one (at least 8 characters, letters and numbers, typed twice). To change it later: click your initial at the top right › Account tab › Change password, or use the Account page on the website.

Switch the app to English (recent versions): click your initial at the top right to open Cài đặt (Settings), tab Chung (General), set Ngôn ngữ (Language) to English. This only changes the interface; the AI answers in the language you write in. The rest of this guide uses the English labels.

5Choose the AI brain

The "brain" is your own AI account (Claude or ChatGPT), which does the thinking; imCAD does the SOLIDWORKS control. Because it is your own AI account, usage counts against your Claude / ChatGPT plan.

1. Click your initial (the circle at the top right) to open Settings, then the AI brain tab.
2. Choose Claude or ChatGPT / Codex. Each one shows a status label:
   • Not installed: click Install and wait a few minutes until the app says it is installed.
   • Not signed in: click Sign in. Your browser opens the Anthropic (Claude) or OpenAI (ChatGPT) page: sign in, then click Authorize / Continue. Back in the app, the label changes to Ready.
   • Ready: good to go.
3. In the table below, each level (Fast / Standard / Expert) maps to a model. The defaults are fine.

If the OpenAI page asks you to enable device code sign-in: click Cancel, you don't need it. Click Sign in in the app again and sign in on the page that opens.

Have an Anthropic / OpenAI API key instead of an account? Click Use API key in the same section. The key is encrypted and stored only on this computer.

6First build

1. Open SOLIDWORKS first (imCAD does not start SOLIDWORKS for you). When the dot next to SW in the app's top bar turns green, you are connected; click it to reconnect if needed.
2. The first time on a computer, imCAD sets up SOLIDWORKS automatically (a few seconds). Nothing to do on your side.
3. Type in the message box, for example: Build a DIN 912 M8x20 socket head cap screw, then click Send.
4. The AI proposes a step-by-step plan. Look it over, then click ▶ Run plan; to change it, click ✎ Edit plan and describe what to change.
5. When it's done, the app shows a picture of the model, its mass and dimensions. Not happy? Click ↶ Undo whole turn.

Buttons worth knowing

Updating imCAD

When a new version is available, the app shows a bar right below the top bar:

1. Wait for the AI to finish any job in progress (including jobs under Delegate), then click Update.
2. The app downloads the new version, checks that it really comes from imCAD, then closes itself to install. About 1 minute later the app reopens. Your sign-in and history are kept.

To check for a new version manually: Start › imCAD › imCAD - Update.

Uninstalling

• Start › imCAD › Uninstall imCAD, or
• Settings › Apps › Installed apps, find imCAD - Intelligent Modeling CAD, click … › Uninstall.

Uninstalling imCAD does not remove Claude Code / Codex and does not touch your SOLIDWORKS files. If you want to use your account on another computer, remember to Sign out in the app before uninstalling.

Troubleshooting

Still can't install? Take a screenshot of the error and send it to [email protected], or use Report a problem / feedback in the app, with your Windows and SOLIDWORKS versions.

Using imCAD in other AI apps (optional)

The installer also connects imCAD to AI apps already on your computer (Claude Desktop, Codex…). To use imCAD from one of them: fully quit the AI app (right-click its icon near the clock › Quit), reopen it and type Check imCAD status. If you install a new AI app after imCAD, run Start › imCAD › imCAD - Reconnect AI apps.